'Café Cars' Have Been Operating on the Metro-North New Haven Line for at Least 50 Years

Metro-North Railroad commuter Terri Cronin didn't know anybody when she first moved to Connecticut more than a decade ago—until she made lifelong friends in the bar car.

"It's like a whole society," Ms. Cronin said of the more than a dozen regular train riders who gather, chat and drink in the bar car on their way home from work. "We've been there through births, the loss of loved ones, new jobs, losing jobs,...